42 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



"whicb ends somewhat obtusely. The iuseet, before it has laid its eggs, 

 is of a rosy pinkish color, and often of a creamy yellowish. From the 

 under side of its breast proceeds a sucker, or trunk, by means of which 

 it extracts the sap which constitutes its food. The female deposits her 

 eggs, which are of a pinkish color, to the number of 20 to 30, in parallel 

 rows, under the scale or outer shell, and decreasing in size gradually as 

 the eggs are deposited, she finally dies and dries up at the small end 

 of the scale. The eggs hatch out in a few days in the same order in 

 which they have been laid, those near the obtuse end of the scale hatch- 

 ing first, when the young escape from under the scale at the posterior 

 rounded end, which at that part is slightly elevated from the leaf in 

 order to afi'ord a means of escape from the pafent scale of the young 

 coccus. When very young these insects resemble small mites, for 

 which they frequently have been mistaken. They have six legs, two 

 antenme, and are devoid of any shield-like covering ; they run about 

 for a day or two with rapidity in search of some unoccupied or favor- 

 able spot on the leaf or branch in which to insert their suckers to 

 extract tbe sap from the tree, and it is at this time that they can most 

 readily be destroyed, as, being without any scale or shield-like covering, 

 their tender bodies can readily be reached by any liquid solution, 

 which, when the insect is older and protected by its waxy scale, would 

 otherwise run ofi" without affecting the grub beneath it. After the 

 place is selected the beak is inserted and the insect settled for life, a 

 slight film is formed over its back, (&,) and the soft-bodied insect is 

 hidden from view, when it gradually increases in size, assumes a brown 

 color, and grows until it reaches maturity, when, after impregnation by 

 the small midge-like two-winged male, the eggs are fertilized and hatch 

 out into the small mite-like insects before described. The scale cover- 

 ing the male coccus is much smaller than that of the female, and the 

 perfect insect, instead of remaining like the female a soft-bodied grub 

 all its life, finally appears as a very minute fly, having two perfect wings, 

 which it uses to fiy abroad and visit the females on neighboring trees. 

 These males are only 0.01 in length and of a pinkish color, have 

 black eyes, and their anal extremity is furnished with a long curved 

 bristle-like appendage. A more full account of this insect may be found 

 in the Patent-Ofiice Agricultural Keport for 1850, p. 25G. They are de- 

 stroyed by minute parasitic insects, Chalcidida% (see Mymenoptem,) lady- 

 birds, Cocci7i€llid(c, (CoUoptera,) and several heteropterous insects or 

 plant-bugs, &c. The best method of destroying these insects was found 

 to be by syringing the trees both from above and below with whale-oil 

 or soft-soap suds mixed with a small quantity of Peruvian guano, every 

 three or four days, as soon as the young insects had hatched and were 

 running about on the leaves unprotected by the waxy scale or covering, 

 which they acquire as soon as they fix their beaks in the leaf to settle 

 down for life, and which protects the older ones from the liquid. The 

 guano also, dropping from the leaves on to the ground beneath, fertilizes 

 it, and causes a healthy growth, which is favorable to throwing off the 

 old or dead scales. Many planters who have complained of the iuelficacy 

 of this remedy, upon questioning, have acknowledged that they syringed 

 their trees only occasionally, and not at regular intervals of two or three 

 days, thus giving the young naked insects time to form the protecting 

 scale or shield between the syringings and lay the eggs for fresh colo- 

 nies. Others state that they have carefully followed the directions, and 

 yet see no diminution of the number of scales on the tree. This, however, 

 is because the old dead female scales remain, adhering to the bark and 

 leaves until thrown off by a new and vigoroua growth. If such scales 



